Contraception

Which one is for me?

A woman has the right to maintain her health both physical and mental. She should realize that if she is healthy she can do a much better and wholesome job in taking care of the family and the house. For this she should know and learn how to control her reproductive ability.

Prevention of pregnancy is always better than undergoing the process of abortion. The total risks of birth control are much less than the total risks of pregnancy. Prevention is better than cure! This is a well known fact.

Compared to the rest of the world, India has still not met its contraceptive needs.This result in unwanted pregnancies, abortions, increased family size, and the whole gamut of problems associated with a large family.

An unwanted pregnancy at the wrong time brings along with it great amount of anxiety, fear, guilt, confusion etc in the woman’s mind. The constant fear with a delayed period….”am I pregnant?” can be so irritating. No woman would ever want to get an abortion done; she would prefer to rather never go trough it. But she forces herself to go through this; along with the entire unwanted mental and physical trauma.

One of the recent articles in THE HINDU MUMBAI, May 6, 2013 was titled as: “‘Unsafe abortions killing a woman every two hours’ Unsafe abortions are those performed, by untrained practitioners and/ or with faulty equipment, leading to injuries, infections and even death. India has the highest number of unsafe abortions in the world. As per SRS 2001-03, abortion-related deaths contribute to 8 per cent of (around 4,600 deaths annually) of all maternal deaths in India. Approximately 220,000 children worldwide lose their mothers every year because of abortion-related deaths.

Key reasons women give for having an abortion include:

Family Size: Women tend to abort when they are satisfied with the number of children in their family. Another aspect to this is that women also tend to have abortions when they want to delay child birth.

Age: In many situations teenage pregnancies and overage pregnancies (that lead to complications) pinpoint age as a major factor in abortions.

Finances: Having a family has serious financial implications. Women tend to opt for an abortion when they cannot afford to bring up a child.

Current Career/Education opportunities:In this age and time, many women have active careers and educationally active lives and feel that pregnancy and children will interrupt and interfere with their ambitions.

Commonly and very unfortunately for sex selection, which is another devastating issue altogether.

The most effective solution to most of these problems is safe and effective contraception, which is so freely available everywhere in India and entirely funded by the Government of India, free of cost for women who can’t afford it. Abortion rates are lowest where contraceptive use is high; for example in Europe, Russia, parts of China and visa versa inAsia and Africa. Abortion rates sharply declined as use of modern contraceptives increased in the RussianFederation, China. (Supported by W.H.O data)

Like in other aspects of life and living great developments and advancements have be been made in the field of control over human reproduction. Amazing inventions have been made to make things simpler, easier with fewer side effects.

It’s high time we take control of our reproductive potential, by making contraception an integral part of our lives. If the whole media can be drenched with sex, then it should not be too difficult to talk about contraception to one another.

Use of contraception has a cafeteria approach. This means that, every woman chooses a method according to her preference, need, acceptability, convenience and reproductive age. Following are the different scenarios:

A woman who has completed her family can go for permanent sterilization method like tubectomy. If she has a medical health problem her husband can go for vasectomy.

A woman who wants to postpone the birth of the next baby after having a baby can just go for copper T / Mirena or contraceptive pills or one shot hormonal injections or hormonal implants.

A newly married can go for oral contraceptive pills or barrier method like condom. A teenager can use the same pills and or condoms. One should clearly understand that pills don’t protect against sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) or HIV, a woman in situations where she is not sure should always insist in the use of condom as well, to protect herself.

Older woman nearing menopausal age can use hormonal intra uterine devices (Merina) till menopause sets in. The same can be used by women who suffer from certain benign gynecological disorders.

Condom when correctly used can be used by any couple of any age with any problem, to prevent both pregnancy and infections.

Of course these days’ emergency contraceptives are available for unplanned situation. A woman thus gets another chance to be prepared the next time. What more can be asked of science? For detailed information one should check out the website www.plannedparenthood.org. Or consult the nearest doctor.

This is not enough! As responsible citizen of this country it’s our duty to help our woman to make their lives better. Help them to have a healthy fearless life. Educate and talk to them about contraceptive use and avoid unnecessary abortion.The Bottom Line is: Prevention of unintended pregnancy and abortion is easy with Increased and correct use of easily available contraceptive methods.